THERIACA, THEN AND NOW

Abstract

The history of theriaca reveals several attributes of humankind in their relation to medicine that enriches their present understanding. A compound of numerous simples, it reigned through twenty centuries as a panacea against diverse ailments, was a symbol of therapeutic progress, and sustained the interest and hope of learned and lay people of many cultures and civilizations. Its fame and commercial success drove the apparition of copies and falsifications that have persisted under the names of their creators, the city of origin, or some special char­acteristics. Most famous are mithridatium, theriaca magna of Andromachus, diatessaron or of the poor, and Venice theriaca. Of Greeks origin, it grew in fame mainly due to Galen and an unknown contemporary in Rome. Byzantine, Arab and Persian medical authors, and later others in Montpellier, Salerno and Padua, preserved the ancient writings and elaborated on them. The apparition of bubonic plague meant an enormous impulse to its use, augmented by the commercial strategy of Venice, and amplified by the printing of numerous pamphlets and books. The Scientific Revolution and the diffusion of its ideas marked the beginning of its decline, but it was still present in most European pharmacopeias until the end of the 19^th cen­tury. We propose that fear, greed and credulity were seminal factors in its success, conditions still present today in medical marketing, quackery and falsifications, unnecessary care, medical consumerism, and unregulated alternative medicines and cosmetic industries.